


I'd rather drown

by ryu_ryu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bit of angst ig, Hanahaki AU, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Slow Burn, Voltron, fluff?, how do tags works, if ur my sister ignore these tags haha
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:28:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28547892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryu_ryu/pseuds/ryu_ryu
Summary: A trio of friends has become quite accustomed to their closely-knit circle of trust, fun and bullshit, but Lance is unwilling to share that when another user is invited to their discord room by Pidge.Will they fight? Yes.Is this enemies to lovers? Take a wild guess.Can I do summaries very well? I think thats quite obvious buddy.Hotel? Trivago.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	I'd rather drown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just some prologue shit yk, gotta be done

The slow whir of a fan overhead is the only noise breaking the thick blanket of silence, save for the frequent clack of a keyboard and belligerent clicking of a mouse. Small lights on a pc tower blink meekly against the darkness of the drawn curtains, casting gentle blue flashes across the desk. An aggressive series of colour pools from the screen, the sound of automatic weapons and explosives creeping quietly from the headset positioned snuggly around the boy's ears.

“C’mon, c’mon- shit!” Lance swore at his monitor, another string of curses following yet another loss. He scowls at his character that lies on the bottom of the screen, avatar faded grey in defeat. A sharp cackle sounds from the other end of his headset, only deepening the lines of annoyance in his brow,  
“I can’t- I can’t believe you’re dead already-“ his friend wheezes, discord icon glowing a bright green with the peaking noise it received. He watches as another character made its way to its fallen comrade, making sure to trample his dead body as they walk past. The giggling continues as his character gets stomped on.  
"Oi! Stop Pidge you're gonna lose it for us if you're too busy kicking my dead body" Lance complains into the mic, only moments later seeing her character beside him fade grey as well, a grenade sending it's head flying to another side of the field. A mocking red-fonted ‘DEFEATED’ flashes harshly on his screen, accompanied by a groan of disappointment from the other end of the call,  
"You're so shit at support Lance. Give that back to me next time."

Lance slumps over his desk, shoving a tuft of light brown hair back behind the band of his headset. He _knew_ he'd be shit at support, but his spectacled friend on the other end of the line always made it seem impossibly easy, almost always managing to earn MVP. Hovering over the selection, he switches his character position from 'support' back to 'tank'.  
Despite only having the game week or so, the other two people occupying his party had mastered their respective positions, quite an unfortunate affair for Lance's ego considering he had definitely, not in fact, mastered either available positions. Pidge had tried reassuring him as the game progressed and you defeated more players, additional positions within the party would be unlocked - ones he potentially _wouldn't_ be so shit at. 

"Yeah, yeah, I'll go back to tank next time." He mumbled, deciding to keep his forehead planted firmly against the cool wood of his desk, interest deteriorating with every passing second. 

A chime sounds as another profile joins the call room,  
“Sorry guys sorry I’m not gonna be able to play for the rest of the night.” An apologetic tone filters through the speakers, their third party member finally reappearing.  
"Wha- guys I was gone for five minutes are we dead already?" The voice re-joins the lobby, words of confusion mingling with Pidge's in a sudden flurry of explanation,

"Well, Hunk, you can thank Mr. 'All rounder' for that, thinking he can play support as well as I can." Her character runs erratic circles around the reappeared player.  
Lance slams a hand on the desk defensively,  
"Shut up! You're just as bad as me in an attack role-"

Hunk looses a familiar sigh through the voice channel, far too used to the banter between his other party members, and far too tired to be bothered stopping them.   
_bestManLan has been kick from Lobby #34 by Chunk_O_Hunk  
urMomIsGaE has been kick from Lobby #34 by Chunk_O_Hunk_

The bickering is momentarily halted by screams of dismay.

In an attempt to redirect the hostile bickering of his friends, he interjects with a gentler question,  
"Have you guys seen the recent news? There's been like, heaps of controversy lately."

Lances minimises the game window, muttering under his breath as he decides he fucking hates the game anyway, and flicks through his multiple browser tabs to one titled ‘Latest News’. Various journal reports on politics pop up as he scrolls down (and past them, because let’s be honest, he does not give two shits about politics), followed by the occasional small bouts of crime report and celebrity banter. Only a few obnoxious titles catch his eye.  
_LIFE-CHANGING CURES POSSIBLY DISCOVERED FOR SUPPOSEDLY INCURABLE DISEASE..  
_He almost scrolls past it - sciencey-nerd news had never been his thing anyway- until an image loads beside it, a suspicious red and yellow blur of preview pixels intriguing him.   
He clicks the link, the sidebar immediately exploding with various related reports as the page loads:  
_PETALS SPOTTED BY ELECT CANDIDATE, POSSIBLY ANOTHER NOMINEE OUT OF THE RUNNING..._

_DISEASE COMMONLY KNOW AS 'THE HANAHAKI DISEASE' BECOMES INCREASING EVIDENT..._

_SUDDEN PASSING OF MASSIVE SUPERSTAR, SUSPECTED TO BE HANAHAKI?_

_COULD THE SICKNESS BE SPREADING?_

"You mean the news above someone getting axe-murdered in your area?"  
Pidge must've gotten the same idea as Lance, and was scrolling through the latest news pages. He sees the breaking news of the murder flash in the corner of his screen on a bright red banner.  
"What?" The dubiety is evident in Hunk's voice,  
"No I was talking about the whole 'government is controlling pigeons' reports, did you know that they think..."

Lance tilts his head at the bright yellow image before him, briefly letting his thought wander from the voices filling the call. Dandelion-yellow tulips were set on what looked like a cold metal background, gathered in what looked to be a pitiful, inconsistent bouquet. He would have considered them a pretty flower if it had not been for the dreariness and wilting of the petals, and crimson blood staining the intricate lines in small dainty spatters.  
The caption read:  
_Figure 2. Flower's voided from patient's throat (trachea), seeming to have caused deteriorating health and ruptured airways.  
_His eyes continued down the page in a curious trance,  
_Although previously proven to have been true, the centuries old myth of the Hanahaki's disease is finally becoming more and more prevalent as many more speak about their experiences, and treatment for the condition is searched for. There is currently not an openly available cure, though side effects of removal are continuing to be tested upon by closely trusted practitioners...  
_He knew that much was true - his grandmother often rambled to him about the tragedy the disease had brought to her lovestruck generation- though he figured her retellings might have been a _bit_ dramatic.  
The disease is the result of unrequited love, loving someone with the reciprocation or knowledge of your feelings. That's what it fed off, that's what made it blossom. It was said most wouldn't notice buds of illness growing deep in your lungs - no one had ever noticed until it was too late. Until there was a fully-developed network of petals and flowers clutching at every remnant of love and squeezing every last sliver of life you had left out of you - complete suffocation. It sounded painful, but quite an improbable thing to occur to Lance, at least.

"...well either way please don't get axe-murdered Hunk."

Without registering the place in the conversation, he blurts,  
"Have you guy's seen anything about this Hana-what's-it flu or whatever?"  
Lance shuts his mouth almost immediately, regretting having interrupted so abruptly.

"Oh, you mean Hanahaki disease? It's been real interesting lately."  
As usual, Pidge could be relied upon for the latest information in the case of medical regards. Despite her habitual enthusiasm on the subject, her voice lacked that eagerness to unload all her knowledge onto the friends in the call, the slight disgruntlement seemingly picked up by Hunk.   
"Did...something relevant happen with it? You seem..."  
The latter pauses, the contemplating of her words could almost be heard through the remote wireless connections, intertwining them through each of their headsets.   
"Actually, uh, my brother got it, so..."

"Oh Pidge, I'm so sorry..." Hunk offers quietly, sympathy filling his voice out of habit.

"Will he be okay?" Lance asks tentatively. He knew it was the wrong question as soon as it left his lips, and he could almost see Hunk's scolding face through the busy screen in front of him. 

"I mean. He's fine so far, the doctors said they'd find a cure soon enough anyway, it's not like he's gotten much worse..." She trails off. The tone in Pidge's voice presents as more of a contemplation than sadness, though it does nothing to console Lance's already spiralling thoughts. He knew better than anyone that Pidge would probably find a cure to the disease herself before letting the sickness get the better of her brother. 

He fiddles with his headset wire as a notification slides on his screen. Lance clicks it out of habit.   
_Hunk: dude i can literally picture your face without seeing it_

Almost as if sensing the brunette's worry through the monitor, another message follows the previous,

_Hunk: dw. yk she's not upset_

He didn't know if he hated or appreciated how transparent he appeared to Hunk.   
Not that it was particularly surprising considering how long they'd known each other, but he couldn't help but feel bad he couldn't provide the same amount of emotional maturity and understanding in return. He really did try though.  
A reply is messily slapped onto the keyboard,  
_yeah sorry my bad. totally fucked it._

The beckoning of Hunk's mother wafting from a distant part of the house interrupts the two who had continued talking. Huh. They really had been unbothered after all.   
"Ah, yes yes okay!- Sorry guys I really gotta get going now."  
"Aight, see ya dude." Pidge chirps, her usual cheerfulness already reoccupying her voice.  
Lance manages to mumble out a quick "Yeah, see ya."

Hunk's profile dips out of view, fading a grey as he disconnects. He hears Pidge rustling through her desk,  
"Damn, you done the homework Lance?"   
Lance stiffens with the mention, a heavy pause filling the voice chat.  
_Wait. Fuck. Did I-_  
Without time to stutter a response Pidge is already cackling her head off. She whacks a fist on the desk as she tries to compose herself.   
"Nah nah just kidding...can't believe I got you... _again_..." She snorts into her mic, obviously amused with herself. Lance couldn't say the same for himself, but before he could unleash a string of insults and yells he's already been interrupted,  
"Anyway, I'm gonna get going as well."  
"Jeez _good,_ don't come back." Lance grumbles in response.  
"See ya." He can hear her grinning through the words as a disconnecting chime fills his ears, her profile falling grey as well. 

He casts his eyes away from the faint light of the monitor, a sigh escaping into the late night air.   
_There isn't much to do, huh..._

It was often he stayed up late, gazing at the many constellations painting the sky instead of falling asleep, thinking, contemplating, _overthinking._ The seaside town of Varadero was peaceful at night, but offered inconvenience considering he couldn't see his online friend's directly, in real time.

He survey's his room one last time before switching his computer off, falling silent with a gentle whoosh. 

The red wood of a guitar leant up against his desk garters his attention as he rises to transfer to his bed. Gripping the smooth wood of the neck he lifts it into his lap, finger positioned comfortably over the strings as he sits comfortably nestled in his unkept duvet. With his bed positioned under the windowsill, Lance brushes a curtain open to let the silver shine of starlight in, small speckles reflecting off the shiny surface of his guitar. He strums at the strings absent-mindedly, fingers eventually finding a familiar rhythm as the tune returns to him,  
_I want you,_  
_And I always will,_  
_I wish I was worth_  
_But I know you deserve..._

He hums softly to no one in particular, without reply.  
The grey discord icons stay imprinted in the back of his mind, staring him down, reminding him mockingly of the quiet of his room. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is klance trash that i felt like writing because stfu i felt like it have fun  
> if you read to the end of this then thanks ig homie
> 
> i'll post more chapters eventually lol


End file.
